WWDC - No iMacs, but Yes Displays?

[snahabed]

Fair enough, though personally I think people having towers under the desk and flat panel displays (not crt) on the desk is classier and more minimalist... the iMac would be a little cutesy for any office that i would run!!

Don't forget about have money/want desk space and fashion choice.

You walk into a NY fashion magazine and find all the clerical staff using:
a) G5's, hidden under their desk with 21" CRT's on the desk.
b) everybody with a tiny iMac/17 on their desk.

Envision it.

The G5 is meant to be hidden, the iMac is meant to be shown. Don't underestimate the power of aesthetics on rich folks' buying patterns. How many people fit this category? Oh, a little more than 3%.

 

[LaMerVipere]

As someone on Apple Insider said,

Think Secret - January 2003: No New PowerBooks

TS isn't the end all, know all, of the Apple rumours world!

 

[jimthorn]

I really hope the keynote will be available as Quicktime either live or a couple days later (or both).

 

[wdlove]

I'm not disappointed at all by no iMac announcement. My hope is that the displays will look better than the last picture I saw.

 

[coolfactor]

I wonder if these new screens have some sort of new magical features or are they just the same old thing dressed up and resized

Yes, they'll be in an Aluminum shell, use DVI instead of ADC, and have two Firewire and two USB ports on them.

Or, they'll be holographic, be translucent, be touch-sensitive, fold up into the size of a wallet, be solar-powered, make coffee and toast, watch your children, and even do the laundry.

 

[johnpaul191]

do you know what WWDC stands for?

Could Tiger really be that awesome to talk about during the WWDC. There has to be other jaw dropping announcement.

do you know what WWDC stands for? World Wide Developer Conference. DEVELOPER, not consumer. That may be why there is no webcasting of the event. The point of the conference of the whole event is for developers to learn what's in the new OS revision. The keynote is open, but a lot of the other stuff is NDA kind of stuff.

anything more than 10.4 chatter is bonus. last year they HAD to release the G5s since there is a lot of 10.3 that would have tipped everyone off. remember developers walk out with a beta copy.

 

[MentalFabric]

...my guess is that they planned to have a g5 imac, then ran into a wall, a really hot wall.

I don't think heat is quite as big a problem with the iMac (particularly with possible new form factor) as they'd probably scale the speed down... imagine 1.2, 1.4 and 1.6 ghz iMacs, the processors would run much cooler, and there need only be one...

 

[paulypants]

I would think G5 imac is not up coming before a G5 powerbook.
It just does not add up. That would all but kill apple. You just can't have your low end, out working your pro line.
I'm sure they have them made, but just can not send it to the line yet.

STOOOOPPPP!!!!!

Laptops are NOT on par with desktops PERIOD.

The number #1 priority for a portable is to be portable.
Power is second. You cannot look at desktops and laptops
being in the same categories. PowerBooks are NOT PowerMacs.
The only similarity is some marketing ( ie: Power) to streamline
the products, that's it.

If people want a G5 right now than they should just get a desktop.

 

[spencecb]

Bottom line is, no one knows, so lets just wait until Monday and we can all find out together!

 

[PRØBE]

2000? I wish...

I am getting kind of tired of Apples "well we don't have a faster processor, so lets just slap a bigger monitor on it" policy towards imacs. The problem with this is that they don't make them any cheaper when they do this. What does the 20' iMac cost? $2000? For a "consumer" machine. It is ridiculous.

Apple needs to do something with the imac, and just slapping, yet bigger display on them is not the answer...

Well over here in Portugal, the 20" imac costs no less than 2500 Euros (3030 dollars) and the 17" 2000 Euros (2424 dollars) Stick that up your "prosumer" Apple. These machine look nice, but are old old spec and ought to be selling for 60% of that price IMO

 

[bob_the_gorilla]

I hate to be the doom and gloom guy around here, but things have not quite went as expected with the G5. Now this is only a guess backed by no facts, but my guess is that they planned to have a g5 imac, then ran into a wall, a really hot wall. Expect a slapped together 1.5 g4 wiz bang non-update quietly released in a month or two.

I don't want to agree on this one - it's nice to think of Apple as having a god-like Master Plan that makes perfect sense, and which mere mortals can only glimpse - but it's probably true that they've hit heat problems. That's what happened with the PMs after all. That and the apparent lack of a webcast point to disappointment.

Steve said at the start of the year that 2004 was going to be an exciting year with lots of new products. So, we've seen AirPort Express, iPod Your BMW and some minor product upgrades. Cool as APE et al are, they don't really count as an exciting product-filled year. What are you hiding, Apple? Don't make me cry!

 

[Sabbath]

Somehow, Tiger and Displays just doesn't seem enough for a 2hour keynote, sure it could last an hour but Steve likes to have a lot to go with. Last year we had Panther, which I believe was closer to being finished than Tiger will be, G5s and even time for iSights! So I would expect something more, maybe something small though.

Think Secret argues a new iMac would require a big show and webcast, so either WWDC isn't a big consumer thing this year, and there will be some other place for announcements before Paris Expo. Similar to NAB? I hadn't heard of that before this year? As surely iMacs must be updated before September, and there doesn't seem to be many current iMacs out there at the moment.

I guess we'll find out soon

 

[aethier]

Wasn't it a couple of Keynote's back when everybody was saying that Apple's presentation wasn't going to be much, and then Steve revealed something great like the New iMacs or the PowerMacs, or something like that. I can't remember which Keynote it was but didn't Jobs saying something like, "Well, I guess you can't always believe what you read."

i believe that to have been the one with the intro of the twelve and 17 inch AL|PB, as no rumor website was forcasting updates, as it had been already updated (the 15 inch) in november.

aethier

 

[QCassidy352]

the imac line is, frankly, an embarrassment at this point. It's the power of an emac for a little less than a G5 powermac. Add to that the fact that Apple has already told suppliers that no more of the current imacs will be getting delivered... what does that say to you?

The only reason I'd say no imacs is that this is a developers conference and the imacs are a consumer machine... but still. Continuing to leave them at this price and power is just absurd. Apple has been selling very few imacs, and it's no wonder why. They need either A) massive price drops, B) massive upgrades, or C) to be discontinued entirely.

Apple has done some dumb things in the past, but we already know the current line up has been discontinued. So it's either new imacs, or the end of imacs.

 

[LaMerVipere]

I hate to be the doom and gloom guy around here, but things have not quite went as expected with the G5. Now this is only a guess backed by no facts, but my guess is that they planned to have a g5 imac, then ran into a wall, a really hot wall. Expect a slapped together 1.5 g4 wiz bang non-update quietly released in a month or two.

Well keep in mind that Think Secret also says that the new iMacs are already in production in Asia, so clearly, if thats true, there was no engineering hurdly Apple couldn't overcome!

 

[aswitcher]

This is going to be a big test of thinksecrets credibility.

If they are right then kudos but if they are wrong then I think they will loose major cred.

Damn shame if the new G5iMacs dont appear soon...it must be hurting Apple sales bigtime...

 

[bob_the_gorilla]

do you know what WWDC stands for? World Wide Developer Conference. DEVELOPER, not consumer. That may be why there is no webcasting of the event. The point of the conference of the whole event is for developers to learn what's in the new OS revision. The keynote is open, but a lot of the other stuff is NDA kind of stuff.

anything more than 10.4 chatter is bonus. last year they HAD to release the G5s since there is a lot of 10.3 that would have tipped everyone off. remember developers walk out with a beta copy.

Agreed, but it's a big occasion, Mr Jobs is a showman and brand new hardware has developer opportunities. We'll see.

As for the webcast - I'm peeved. I'm as interested in what Tiger has to offer as any anonymous developer dude (or dudette). Shame on you, Apple.

 

[QCassidy352]

one other thing - as someone else pointed out, it's interesting that appleinsider and thinksecret are diametrically opposed on this one, both citing "multiple sources inside apple." Do we really have any reason to believe one of them over the other?

(arn, any of your sources know anything??)

 

[PRØBE]

Don't be a such a "looser"

This is going to be a big test of thinksecrets credibility.

If they are right then kudos but if they are wrong then I think they will loose major cred.

Damn shame if the new G5iMacs dont appear soon...it must be hurting Apple sales bigtime...

What is it about this word that's so damn hard to spell?
Are you all doing this just to annoy me?
(Sorry but I always get pre-potential product announcement "loose" intolerance syndrome) Must be all the excitement.
By the way, it's L O S E!
Rant over

 

[dongmin]

It is bs. They are saying fall for the next imac rev. So apple stores will be out of imacs intill the fall. TS is wrong on this one. May not be on WWDC but, sometime July.

Where do people get the impression that Apple is out of stock on the iMacs??? I just tried buying the 17". Estimated shipping: 'Same bus. day.' That doesn't sound like out of stock to me.

As far as rumor consistency goes, Thinksecret has NEVER suggested that iMacs be updated at WWDC. They haven't mentioned a peep about iMacs, so they're being consistent. Appleinsider, on the other hand... I have to go with Thinksecret on this one. But we'll know soon enough.

 

[germ war]

Call it a hunch, but I think iMacs are getting discontinued in lieu of something new. I think Apple is somehow going to upgrade the eMac line in the not-too-distant future, possibly going flatscreen like the current iMacs, and doing something completely different altogether with the eMac-to-PowerMac bridge. Return of the Cube? Who knows? None of the rumors sites, apparently.

 

[Dreamail]

I'm as interested in what Tiger has to offer as any anonymous developer dude (or dudette). Shame on you, Apple.

Maybe the stuff SJ will show is under NDA? Tiger is quite a few months off so perhaps Apple wants things to be kept under wraps for a little while longer.
And with no webcast Apple has more control over what is presented to the public via Apple's web page.

Also it could be that some Tiger stuff is not stable enough to demo live. We know how much SJ hates crashing demos. A delayed webcast gives Apple the chance to edit out any 'hiccups'.

 

[BeigeUser]

one other thing - as someone else pointed out, it's interesting that appleinsider and thinksecret are diametrically opposed on this one, both citing "multiple sources inside apple." Do we really have any reason to believe one of them over the other?

Maybe because Think Secret has a much better track record than appleinsider. Many are quick to point out the few errors that Think Secret has made in the past. But remember that they have made much more accurate predictions than mistakes. And although I don't really have any data to back this up, they seem to be the best of the rumor sites.

 

[joeboy_45101]

Wasn't it a couple of Keynote's back when everybody was saying that Apple's presentation wasn't going to be much, and then Steve revealed something great like the New iMacs or the PowerMacs, or something like that. I can't remember which Keynote it was but didn't Jobs saying something like, "Well, I guess you can't always believe what you read."

Personally I like the current design of the iMac. I think if they would do any kind of upgrade it would be: replace the plastic shell of the current iMac with stainless steel, add a G5 processor(in the sub 2Ghz range), and add a detachable screen. This detachable screen would have touch screen capabilities and would be able to communicate with iMac's body through Airport. With the recent introduction of Airport Express this would be ideal for being able to do work anyplace in your home or office. This detachable screen wouldn't exactly be a tablet since it would not have any components built into it such as Harddrive or SuperDrive/ComboDrive, since those would be in the "basestation body" part.

Of course I could be completely wrong, but that does sound like an interesting concept.

Let me just follow up on my earlier idea,

I don't believe a touchscreen would be neccessary for a detachable iMac screen. Apple already has a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, so that would take care of any user input. If I'm correct then the screen would have a flip-out pedestal, sort of like a picture frame on a desk. "Portable Desktop Computing", an interesting oxymoron.

Now, I've heard all the practical rumors about the upcoming iMacs (exactly when, I don't know); headless iMac, pizzabox iMac, wireless mouse and keyboard iMac, and so on. Well this design would be a headless iMac(whenever the user decided to "pop" the screen off the body unit, the neck acting as some kind of antenna and power supply), it could also be a pizzabox iMac(maybe a reference to the screen unit), utilizing the wireless mouse and keyboard for when you remove the screen. A removeable screen could also allow for screen upgrades in the future. The speculatory peices fit together here.

 

[appleface]

wait and see

maybe...just maybe, steve's got a fat rabbit up his sleeve.

with the rumors of hanging displays, rumors of wifi keyboard and mouse coming standard on the new "imac," and the reality of airport express exporting to speakers; maybe apple's changing the design of its consumer computer. maybe the new mac won't be an "imac." maybe apple will come through on its promise of making the core to your digital life. think different.